This invention relates to a cosmetic container including pulverizing apparatus for a granulated cosmetic housed therein, and more particularly to a cosmetic container having pulverizing apparatus wherein during use of the cosmetic, the cosmetic discharge efficacy is improved by the provision of a pulverization structure that smashes and finely pulverizes, in a plurality of stages, a granulated cosmetic in a cosmetic mixture being discharged in an airless pump of a cosmetic container housing a mixture of a liquid- or gel-form basic cosmetic and a granulated cosmetic having a different function.
Substances that may be contained in and dispensed by containers of the present invention include, without limitation, small and generally spheroidal bodies of material, immersed in a liquid or gel continuous phase (vehicle), that are individually coherent and stably self-sustaining in shape while quiescently thus immersed but are adapted and intended to be broken up (e.g., comminuted, smashed, pulverized or disintegrated) into smaller bits dispersed in the vehicle incident to being discharged therewith from a container for application or other use. Commonly or typically, they are solid or semi-solid, more or less round, a few (e.g., about three) millimeters in size, and may be solid or semi-solid, may be soft and may swell to some extent while immersed in the vehicle. Materials currently commercially available as such bodies include a variety of cosmetics, some having a pearlescent appearance. Bodies of this type are referred to by diverse terms, including granules, pellets, and beads, or are characterized as having a granular or capsular form. For convenience, all such bodies will be designated “granulated cosmetics” herein, but the invention in its broader aspects includes containers for granules, pellets or beads of other materials as well, including (again without limitation) products for personal care such as hair care and oral care), and the term “granulated cosmetics” is to be understood as embracing generally small bodies of material (regardless of end use) in self-sustaining granular or capsular form as quiescently immersed in a liquid or gel vehicle but adapted and intended to be broken up into smaller (typically much smaller) pieces or fragments and dispersed in the vehicle during discharge from a container. Again for convenience, all such breaking up of granulated cosmetics into smaller bits will be designated herein by the term “pulverize” in its various forms (“pulverization,” “pulverizing,” etc.).
Generally, when make-up is applied, the make-up is used by selecting from a large number of cosmetics having various functions and forms depending on the preference or skin type of the user, and these cosmetics are constructed in various forms such as for example liquids, powders, gels, solids etc.
Moreover, recently, accompanying further diversification in cosmetic functionality, cosmetics have become widely used in a form wherein there are housed mixed cosmetics obtained by mixing a cosmetic comprising small granules having a pearlescent function with a liquid- or gel-form cosmetic.
Such granulated cosmetics have various colours and feels etc., or unique functions that differ from basic cosmetics, and when used are suitably mixed with liquid- or gel-form basic cosmetics.
In particular, granular pearlescent cosmetics have excellent characteristics in terms of visual attractiveness when shipped in a form wherein they are housed in a transparent cosmetic container, and accordingly have shown a gradual tendency towards increased use, and application can be readily made when used, because by finely pulverizing using the pumping power of an airless pump provided on the cosmetic container, discharge may be made in the form of admixture together with a basic liquid- or gel-form cosmetic.
As far as the construction of the cosmetic container in which such granular cosmetics are housed is concerned, in the same way as in the containers known from the prior art, the construction is of a container such that there is admixture together with the liquid- or gel-form basic cosmetic, and a pump connected to the top of the container, such that the contents in the container are discharged to the outside in a fixed amount by the pumping power afforded by causing a pushing action.
Accordingly, during use, when the operating button of the pump is subject to a pushing operation, the cosmetic housed as a mixture in the container is discharged along a discharge path and through a nozzle to the outside in response to the operation of the pump.
In this case, due to the discharge of the liquid- or gel-form basic cosmetic along the discharge pathway, the granulated-form cosmetic is also caused to be discharged together with the basic cosmetic, and because it is in the form of solid granules, while colliding with a plurality of members in the discharge path, it is caused to have a greatly reduced size, and discharge is made in the form of a mixed cosmetic. The mixed cosmetic discharged in this way has an extremely fine size when applied onto the skin, thus providing a unique performance.
On the other hand, when considering the mechanical construction of cosmetic containers housing such granular cosmetics, for example, although not a specific cosmetic container, there is a construction known from the prior art wherein a special mesh body having fine holes is provided in the discharge pathway of a cosmetic container together with an airless pump.
Accordingly, the construction is such that if the granulated cosmetic which is discharged together with the liquid- or gel-form basic cosmetic is of a pulverized fine size smaller than the hole size of the mesh body, then the granulated cosmetic is discharged; while on the other hand, if the granulated cosmetic is of a size larger than the hole size, the granulated cosmetic is not discharged and becomes trapped on the sieve.
However, with such a construction of the prior art, the holes of the mesh body are readily blocked, and when the holes of the mesh body become blocked, the pump cannot operate smoothly due to the internal pressures applied within the pump, and this presents a serious problem.